Tag Archives: Weekend Wrap Session

BY TIM BARLEY

Something called the ‘Polar Vortex’ played havoc on movie theaters and left everything Frozen

Greetings to all, far and wide. For those new to Cocktails and Movies, we take this time every Monday (after a nice cocktail to get us going) to look at what happened over the weekend at the box office and to see how good we are getting at prognosticating the returns. Whether it’s the late morning cocktails on a Friday, or the fact that we love movies more than box office returns, we often get it wrong. Which is why, starting soon, we’re going to offer up a competition each week as a guest prognosticator picking the top five films each week. If you beat us, you’ll get that week’s prize! More to come on that in the next week or so.

But, hey, have you noticed how COLD it is out there? It even forced AMC Theaters to close down many of its theaters in MO, IL, IN, MI and Wisconsin yesterday. Yes, winter is here and it is playing havoc with the box office already. That being said, Frozen is doing killer business. Unlike Paranormal Activity, which was just frozen in second place.

BY TIM BARLEY AND MIKE REYES

It Was The Best of Times & Worst of Times, And The End of Times! The Last Weekend Wrap Session of 2013!

Here we are, the last Weekend Wrap Session of 2013. It’s been a hell of a year here at C&M and we’d just like to thank you all again for jumping on board with this little “Dog and Pony Show.” In the coming days as we look forward to 2014, we’ll be reflecting on what 2013 meant for movies, cocktails, and where Cocktails and Movies goes from here. For now though, we have a bit of a question for you all, so perhaps you could help us answer the riddle of the moment: were there any new movies released this weekend? Looks like your guess was as good as ours, judging by the grosses of this weekend’s new contenders. Here’s the rundown of who placed where this weekend at the movies:

BY TIM BARLEY AND MIKE REYES

A dragon fires to the top of the Box Office… But comes up short historically

Last weekend’s box office was a decent showing, despite various SantaCons going on throughout the nation, and a snowy climate in the Northeastern part of the country. (Also, to all you SantaCon people out there, you now officially have no excuse to mock people dressing up for movie openings and ComicCon. We’re all in the “dressing as imaginary figures” boat now, and it’s practically a cruise ship. And, we don’t brawl in the streets.) We don’t know what you guys thought was going on, but we pretty much pegged the rankings for the top 5. Although our figures were a bit off, so maybe it’s time to rejigger the Calculatron 2000… or to perhaps spring for the Calculatron 3000.

by Tim Barley

Best Man Holiday is no match for the God of Thunder…

Good evening, everyone! We’re breaking in from our war room holiday strategy session to bring you the “wrap session” this evening – making sure we get the most accurate numbers for you, the discerning public. The only new wide release that debuted last weekend gave Thor: The Dark World a run for its money, but fell short by about $6 million. Thor’s haul this weekend brings it up to almost $150 million, heading toward a $200 million domestic box office. Not bad for what was widely considered (wrongly) as the worst of the original solo Avengers films. With a big weekend of films this coming weekend, both these films need to make some big mid week dollars to avoid getting drowned out by a full holiday movie slate.

by Tim Barley and Mike Reyes

Thor: The Dark World brings the hammer down on the competition

Good evening everyone! We’re moving the “wrap session” to the evening hours to make sure we get the most accurate numbers for you, the discerning public. If you haven’t seen it, check out Thor: The Dark World. It’s a great film that does a great job mixing big scale effects, a quality story and a great director at the helm. Thor had a big weekend, outpacing everyone by a mile. It may have another week at the top before it falls, so go out and see it and make it a big winner! Without further ado, here are the numbers from Box Office Mojo

Box Office Actuals 11/1 – 11/3 (courtesy of Box Office Mojo)

1. Thor: The Dark World: $85.7 mil.

2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa: $11.3 mil.

3. Free Birds: $11.1 mil.

4. Last Vegas: $11 mil.

5. Ender’s Game: $10.3 mil.

6. Gravity: $8.5 mil

7. 12 Years A Slave: $6.7 mil.

8. Captain Phillips: $5.7 mil.

9. About Time: $4.8 mil.

10. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2: $2.8 mil.

What did the Wrap Session learn from the weekend?

Tim slightly overestimated the box office draw of Thor, but hopefully many people who haven’t seen it will go out and check it out. Sure, if your girlfriend wants to ogle over Chris Hemsworth, go! Enjoy the comic book fare of the movie while she wishes you were the long-haired god up on the screen. We fully expected Ender’s Game to stick around, but it fell all the way to fifth place leaving Bad Grandpa, Free Birds and Last Vegas to fill in the second to fourth slots. The lesson: old people and people with kids don’t watch football on Sunday and don’t care for big, bombastic superhero types. (If there is a superhero script out there which has an over 60 hero who has grandkids, GET. AN. AGENT!

Gravity is still doing nicely, not falling too far down the list. It’s nice to see 12 Years a Slave holding its own. Captain Phillips is still sticking around, but we don’t know for how much longer. The romcom About Time slid way down the list, and this probably would have been better served up around Valentine’s Day. Last, but not least, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 rounds out the top ten list.

Well, that’s the “wrap” from the weekend. We hope you saw a great movie this weekend and enjoyed a few cocktails. Until the next wrap, everyone, drinkCOCKTAILSwatchMOVIES.